Navy Releases Plan to Expand Bethesda Campus

Map It:  Bethesda   Medical Center 

A PLAN TO MOVE parts of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center out of the District to the campus of the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda would bring 2,200 extra workers — and double the number of patients currently served — to the large medical complex situated along Rockville Pike, one of Montgomery County's most congested corridors.

As The Post's Ann E. Marimow reports, the big question is about who's going to pay for infrastructure improvements such as expanded intersections along Rockville Pike and Old Georgetown Road.

The Navy plan doesn't spell that out. But local officials say that the state and county budgets are already stretched thin, and maintain that the federal government should shoulder some of the financial burden that comes with Base Realignment and Closure Commission-mandated facilities shifts.

The full report is available here. The public can comment on the plan for the next 45 days via e-mail or by regular mail at: BRAC NNMC, 8901 Wisconsin Ave., Bethesda, Md. 20889.

» "Naval Hospital Patients to Double" [WaPo]
» "Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC)" [Montgomery County]

Photo by Robert A. Reeder/The Washington Post